75% of Gaza’s health infrastructure destroyed.
Azar Mahdwan, Yasser Al-Masri: The Zionist regime, which had the ambition of defeating Hamas and taking complete control of the Strip, was forced to sign a ceasefire agreement and withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
The presence and attacks of the Zionist regime in the Gaza Strip over the past 15 months have caused the greatest damage to the health and medical sector of the Strip. Despite the start of humanitarian aid, according to the director of the field hospitals of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, only 73 trucks of medical aid have entered Gaza at the time of this interview, of which 62 trucks have been sent to northern Gaza and 11 trucks to southern Gaza. These quantities are by no means sufficient and do not cover the real needs.
We had about 32 public, private and charitable hospitals in the Gaza Strip, but with the outbreak of the war, only seven remained, which is far below the actual need. The Zionist regime has targeted almost 75% of the health infrastructure, including hospitals and medical centers. We also had 92 primary medical care centers, most of which had the most advanced level of services, but after the devastation of the war, only 25 remained.
After the destruction of this large number of hospitals and medical centers, field hospitals were established, some of which were established with international support and others with domestic efforts. Currently, the number of these hospitals has reached 10, among which two belong to Arab countries: one is Emirati and the other is Jordanian. In addition, hospitals are also operating under the support of international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and the World Health Organization.
Despite the great efforts of these field hospitals, their combined operational capacity is no greater than that of a large government hospital. With the increasing number of displaced people, these hospitals are under great pressure and are unable to meet the needs of patients.
Before the war, the hospitals that accepted the smallest number of patients treated between 300 and 500 patients per day, while the larger hospitals had between 3,000 and 4,000 patients and visitors per day.
As for the hospitals that have been destroyed, we lost the largest hospital in Gaza, Al-Shifa Hospital. This hospital covered all medical specialties, including advanced surgeries such as organ transplants and open-heart surgery. This hospital performed complex operations at a world-class level, but the Zionist regime completely destroyed all its buildings and left nothing of it. Currently, we have established a temporary emergency department to receive the wounded and sick in Gaza, but this department does not even meet the minimum medical needs.